Railroad-chair machine



. M. M. GRA-Y. MACHINE P011 MAKING RAILWAY CHAIRS.

Illllllll'lzf i MICHAEL M. GRAY, or PHILADELPHIA,y PENNsYLvANIA. p

RAILROAD-CHAIR? MACHINE.

Specification of VLetters Patent No. 15'I, dated February 2S, 1854'.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, MICHAEL M. GRAY, ofv

Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines for Making Railway-Chairs; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in the manner of causing a series of punches, knives, and dies and a former and its base yto operate upon a heated plate of malleable iron so as to pierce, cut, and compress, the same into Athe form of a railway chair in a better manner than before known.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I willproceed to describe the manner of its construction and operation.

In the accompanying drawing Figures 1 and 2 are a sectional elevation and plan of the improved machine complete, and drawn to a scale of three quarters of an inch to a foot. The remaining figures, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are enlargedviews of those parts of the machine to which my invention more particularly relates, Fig. 3 being a face view of the part against which the. heated plate is placed preparatory to being operated upon by the punches, knives, and dies. Fig. 4 is a sectional plan of the same, showing the piece of heated iron inserted in the recess.

Fig. 5, another View of vthe same in which' the punches, knives and dies have been` brought to act upon the heated iron; Fig. 6, another sectional view on the line a., b, showing the sliding form more distinctly,y and Figs. 7 and 8 are perspective viewsof the piece ofy iron before it has been operated upon by the machine and afterward, when it has assumed the form of a railway-chair- The same letters of reference allude to similar parts throughout the several views.

Description 0f machine-Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 A is the framework of the machine, consisting of two sides, a base and projection for receiving the die block, all cast in one piece. In the side of the frame are two bearings for the reception of eccentric shaft B and driving the shaft C; on the former is secured the toothed wheel D which gears into the pinionE on the shaft C which is caused to revolve by the shaft and pulleys F.

which works the rodl H; the other end of y,this ro'd'wor'ks on a pin attached to the"slid-' gingv ram I which is guided by flanges'ca'st on the sides oft the frame A. To the end of ,the ram I is secured the block M, to which are attached by any convenient means the knives' S and' punches R. O'n the shaft B Vis fkeyed another cam J this as the shaft re- 'volves actuates the lever K whose fulcrum'` isfon4 the pin L passing through the sidesof `the framev A. The other end of the lever-K iis attached by a joint totherod Q Onfwhich is the sliding former U. The upper portion) @of the rod as Wellas'the slidingv former is. guided by the die block'N which is securely {attached to the projecting portion of the iframe' A. The particular .form of the die lblock N, and the diesand former whichl it contains will be best understoodon reference ;to the enlarged views Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6. In gFig.' 3v it will be observedthat the block is the shaft B is secured the eccentric on'y Y furnished with four lugs two' on each side v ,by means ofk which it is'secur'ed tothe'pro.- 4Jecting portion of the frame. Into the facey of each side of the block are inserted steel'A plates perforated with square holes for thev reception o-f thel punches R on the block M, `to whichare also attached theknives S the latter as' the ram advances' cut through the plate and pass into the space between the `dies P and. sides of the blockN, and the jpunches and knives hold the heated plate steady- The .dies P are actuated by means of the levers O (Fig. 2) which have fulcrums lvon studs attached to the side of the frame A.l

One end of the levers'O ybears against the ,cams Vj which `arey secu-red tothe endsofthe 'shaft B in Isucha mannerI as to act simultaneously. IIthev o'ther'endsl of the levers O bear against the ends ofthe sliding dies P betweeny which and the frame i-nterv'eneA levers, the elasticity of the spirall springsv will cause the dies to resume their former position.

Action of the machine- Having now de-j scribed the' several'parts of the machine IL will proceed tof show'how the same may b carried into effect;

Let us now suppose the machine to be in v operation and the ram in the position 'shown in Fig. l, that is at the end of the outward stroke; a piece of heated iron of the required dimensions is vnow placed in the recess formed above the perforated steel plates on the block N; the sides of the recess anda iange on the spindle Q acting as guides to insure the piece assuminga proper position. The ram now advancing toward the heated plate, the latter will'in the first instance be cut by the knives S whichv will also partly bend the lips down- Ward' as shown in Fig. 4; the plate will then by the continued onward ino-vemeiit of the ram be pierced with holes by4 the punches B the plate remaining stationary on the former and block and the pieces of iron thus punched out passing into al space behind the steel plates and thence into the space below the boX. The cams on the end of the shaft B now act suddenly and simultaneously on the lever O which will force the sliding dies P toward the former U, the dies as well as the former being so shaped as to give the requisite shape to the lips or that portion of the plate which has been cut l movelfreely in spaces cut Vin theyv stripper and bent partially down bythe knives. The levers O being now suddenly released from the projecting parts of the cams V the ldies P will, through the action `of the spiral springs, be freed from Contact with the heated iron and resume their former position. The ram throughV the action of the eccentric now commences its backward stroke and thus withdraws the .knives and punches, and at the same time Vthe cam J operating upon the lever K, the sliding former U will be brought downward and likewise released from the heated iron which has now assumed the form of a railway chair. The latter will still continue to adhere to the knives and punches. Inorder to free it from contact with these, Imake use of the stripper plate which works.

loosely on a pin att-ached to the end of the ram. The knives and punches likewise plate, as they however continue torecede along with the ram the stripper plate will catch the ends of the frame A and thus.

strip the chain from the knives and punches, it will now drop into the space below. The machine is now in such a position as to repeat theoperations on another heater plate.

I am aware that machines have been invented by lVinslow and `Snyder having a sliding former traveling up' and down with' fiat faced cutters 0r square faced punches in a ram to cut the lips o-f the chair; the sliding former and flat faced cutters pressing the ears and main body of the heated plate of metal down on to a bed beneath, leaving the lips to curl up by the resistance of the tops of the dies as the heated plate A claim this combination or arrangement, and further I do not claim the stripper plate to strip the cut and formed metal from the receding knives and punches as it has been before used in a similar manner for an analogous purpose in cracker and iron punching machines.

To distinguish my improvement, I make `my machine with the sliding former similar in shape to va vertical cross section of the `rail, so as to have a base, to rest and slide on the bed plate and having a horizontal motion and no other, that is perpendicular to the motion of the ram, and thus sliding and resting o-n this solid base, and receiving the plate of heated iron on its top; and the `plate remains stationary in the machine eX- cept the lips alonewhich are being cut and curled and swedged down into shape, being held steady o-n the former and Vbase by the knivesand punches, and finally the face of the ram or stripper plate during the operation; and the former keeps iirm and cool in contact with the bed plate. And in the operation of cutting with the vertical plate knives, the cut is made deeper than the base `of the lips to make them form up true at the bend and not tear or break where they fold on the former. By these means all the `chairs are cut, punched and shaped true and `uniformly with economy and expedition and the best quality of iron is not required `to make them without breaking at the gbends; red short iron will answer in this `machine.

What I claim is-u Operating -the sliding former or mandrel upon the base or pedestal to keep it irm and cool, and cutting, curling and swaging the plates of metal to be formed into the chairs while in a stationary position and at a proper heaton the top of this sliding` `fformer instantly in the manner andby the @means as described, to produce the chairs :uniform in shape, and cheaply of low-priced or red short iron without fracture.

MICHAEL M. GRAY. Witnesses ISAAC BROWN, HENRY HowsoN. 

